The Energy Research Center building is the flagship facility for the
newly created Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) and is the
second building to be built at the Stony Brook University Research and
Development Campus. The center will forge partnerships between universities,
industry and national laboratories to develop reliable, economical and
plentiful sources of energy. Leveraging existing capabilities and partnerships,
the energy center actively promotes clean and economical energy strategies
through research, technical applications and community outreach. The facility will concentrates these efforts
on five scientific focus areas: (1) Renewable Energy, (2) Hydrogen Energy, (3)
Fuel Cells, (4) Conventional Fuels, and (5) Energy Conservation.

The organizing idea for the facility is to provide a variety
of open flexible laboratories that can be customized to meet specific technical
requirements and made available to industry and research communities to perform
highly specialized research focused on advanced energy issues. Core Laboratory
Facilities will be provided to support these research efforts.

As a response to the sustainable design guidelines set
for the project, the site design initiatives are to limit the extents of
project disturbance, minimize grading and hardscape, and provide sustainable
techniques of storm water management. Site amenities within the project include:
naturalized landforms on the south side of the site development, a small
outdoor entry plaza near the front door, rain gardens for storm water
infiltration and public education, and a small employee patio on the north side
of the facility. To minimize maintenance
required for lawn care, lawn plantings of a short stature, low maintenance
native wildflower meadows are proposed.

The design solution for the AERTC is a direct response to
its scientific mission and functional requirements. As part of a Greenfield
sustainable minded research and development park, the AERTC architectural
layout is comprised of three formal responses.
These include the head or “front door” of the structure is comprised of
the office block and majority of the “public” support spaces. As the center of human activity within the
building, fostering first impressions to many guests, it is comprised of an
open atrium like spaces surrounded by offices of lead research scientist, their
assistants, and the AERTC director. Maximizing visual transparency of these
spaces, as well as views to the outdoors, will promote a welcoming impression
to outsiders and guests, while promoting and affording opportunities for
interaction and collaboration among users in many of the building support
areas. Finally this area has a roof form which demonstrates rain water
collection being used within the facility, as well as solar attenuation to the
south and east, two of many illustrated and engineered sustainable design
attributes incorporated into the architecture of the AERTC.

The furthest west form,
is programmatically comprised of a scale-up highbay heavy engineering
laboratory, this two story element bookends the immediate site while creating a
clean facade to the western side of the campus, relating to the planned nature
trails. On the south face of the building is a system of solar shading devices.
This fixed system is equipped to accept or be substituted with photovoltaic
cells. Other support lab
spaces in this area include a “greenhouse” for photovoltaic or solar apparatus
experimentation, and radio-frequency lab and other shared lab support functions. Where appropriate, this creates
opportunities to demonstrate some of the
science taking place within; this is one of many sustainable features and
scientific demonstration capabilities of facility which will be incorporated
into the design of the building, rendering a unique building which “walks the
talk” of its mission.The body or “spine” of the facility is the laboratory
wing. A centrally located double loaded corridor sharing core labs, shared
equipment labs, and flexible space labs. Formally, this portion of the building
has the greatest correlation to the East/West axis which affords the best
opportunity to control undesirable environmental influences on the building
such as solar gain, and visual discomfort. This laboratory spine is also
balanced with an unobstructed northern exposure which admits more favorable
environmental conditions by reducing energy consumption needed to mechanically condition the spaces while offering the best visual
comfort.

The interior spaces focus on a connection to the exterior
views and natural light access for all users of the facility. This connection
will begin at the main employee and guest entry and its adjacency to an open
two story commons area that pulls the lab and office components together into
an interactive core. Materials and
finishes being considered for this facility will focus on a simple and timeless
approach. The selections will enhance the simple building design and provide a
durable and maintainable set of surfaces.The massing of the facility is an expression of the strong
sustainable environmental considerations as well as a reflection of the interior
functions of the building. The lower two levels where occupied space resides
are clearly differentiated from the penthouse and screened rooftop equipment
areas. The taller penthouse volumes serve to visually tie together the three
programmatic masses. The mechanical penthouse will also step back from the
perimeter edges of masses below to allow for a better human scale. Most
facility service and support functions like docks, exhaust fans, and at grade
mechanical equipment are veiled by screen walls or tucked into receding
building masses. Roof top fan units will be concealed with screened walls.

Throughout the construction process we were engaged to review all LEED submittals, prepare the construction team and educate them on all LEED specific requirements, answer questions, and ensure compliance. In the end the project achieved fifteen (15) construction credits as part of the projects overall Platinum Certification.